Dear Editor:
A press conference was called on Monday, August 12, by Robotic Parking Inc., the company that designed and built the robotic components of the new parking garage at 916 Garden Street. The press conference was called so that Robotic could, once again, show that the garage functions as it should.
I have heard that a commissioner of the Hoboken Parking Authority, in attendance that day, evidently thought that was a bad idea. Why try to stop this event? If the system works we’ll have 324 cars off the streets. If it failed (which it did not) then Robotic is responsible.
Could there be another reason that this commissioner and/or the Hoboken Parking Authority doesn’t want the garage to open?
The people of Hoboken paid for this garage and as Robotic Parking has shown it works and should be opened to the public. This facility costs Hoboken citizens over $20,000 a month and presently generates no income.
The HPA, its cronies and apparently even its former commissioners, have hopelessly delayed a much-needed, state-of-the-art facility. The Hoboken Parking Authority has to go. The $6 million a year that the HPA collects for running Hoboken’s five parking lots, plus any other revenue they receive, must be handled directly by the Mayor and/or City Council. They are accountable to the voters. The HPA is not.
Mayor Roberts is working to dismantle this desperate agency. Help him do it. We will be much better served by leasing our parking garages to private sector companies to operate. We can use the money paid by these leases to improve the parking situation and buy land for parks and recreation areas.
Scott Gibson
Member, Hoboken Common Sense